Friday, April 12, 2013

I would have gotten away with it, except for you meddling kids

It's a phrase I loved as a kid, when I loved Scooby Doo and now my kids love the show, which looks almost identical, but has a weird over arcing plot about evil aliens and a strange owl.

There's a real comfort in familiarity, and a structure where we know all works out in the end. My kids love the show, because Scooby and Shaggy are still hilarious, but also because that line still comes up at the end and every time, they giggle.

There's nothing wrong with comfort. It makes the journey more secure. It's why I always get annoyed when people talk about formula and romance. Lots of genres have a formula of sorts. Look at the big action movies, where the hero always saves the day. Always! And yet that formula is accepted, but one where two people fall in love and live happily ever after is criticized endlessly.

I think about this a lot, because I still have acquaintances who refer to romance as the trash they read when they need to shut their brains off and no matter how I defend the genre, I know I'm just wasting hot air.

Anyone else come up against this? Am I the only one who still gets annoyed?

8 comments:

Maureen McGowan said...

Here's the difference between me and Sinead. One of my most terrifying and recurring childhood nightmares came from watching Scooby Doo.
I refused to shower (vs bath) until I was at least 10 or 11 because of the episode in question... I'm braver now. :)

But YES to what you're saying. So annoying. And at the risk of showing my inner feminist (sometimes it's not so inner) I think a lot of it has to do with the trivialization of what women care about and the (largely male) idea that stories about emotions are by their nature, fluff.

It annoys me to no end how this ideology has also convinced many women (I was one of them) that the romance genre is trash.

Now, that's not to say that every romance is well written. In a genre where there are so many books published, obviously some of them suck. But that's true in any genre.

I sometimes can't believe what an outspoken advocate I've become for romance given I didn't read it before I started writing, and I used to look down on it too...

Maureen McGowan said...

Oh, and in the episode I'm talking about, a shower tile drew back and a monster looked into the shower. And then the entire bath/shower sped down on some roller coaster track to a dungeon! Would you close your eyes in the shower after seeing that??? ;)

Stephanie Doyle said...

I remember that episode!

And yes - it sill annoys me. It annoys me that Nicolas Sparks writes bad romance, kills someone in the end, and because he's a man it's "emotional fictional." Instead of bad romance.

It annoys me that everyone snickers about 50 Shades of Grey - and how that book once again that all woman reading romance are simply reading porn...

I hate that Nora Roberts is seen as "writing the same thing" all the time but Nelson Demille is not. Harlen Corben is not.

Of course they are. They have their formula - she has hers.

You've caught me at a bad time because I've just read Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg and she makes the case that just when you thought things were equal.... they're still not and we have to keep fighting.

Eileen said...

I just read an article by Deborah Copaken Kogan about how she's been treated in publishing that will make your blood boil. We're a long way from equitable.

Anonymous said...

We definitely have a ways to go. I need to read Lean in.

And Eileen, would love a link to that article.

Eileen said...

Here's the link. The worst thing about her story is how familiar it sounds.

http://www.thenation.com/article/173743/my-so-called-post-feminist-life-arts-and-letters?page=0,1

Anonymous said...

Wow! that is a great article and utterly infuriating... Thanks for the link

Molly O'Keefe said...

My kids have found He-man and She-ra - hilarious. Now, we just need to find Thundercats and it's my childhood all over again...

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